Tag: movie news

Much ado has been made about the omission of the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted the American flag on the moon in the movie First Man. So what’s the deal?

Here’s what the director had to say about this decision:

“It surprised me because there are so many things that we weren’t able to focus on not only during the lunar EVA but in the entirety of Apollo 11. Just by the nature of the story we were telling, we just couldn’t go into every detail. So our through-line became, especially at this part of the movie where it’s the final emotional journey for Neil, what were the private, unknown moments of Neil on the moon? The flag was not a private, unknown moment for Neil. It’s a very famous moment and it wasn’t Neil alone. We included the famous descent down the ladder because that’s him alone, literally first feeling what it’s like to be on the moon. But other than that, we only wanted to focus on the unfamous stuff on the moon. So we don’t go into the phone call with Nixon, we don’t go into the scientific experiments, we don’t go into reentry.”

Regardless of how you feel about the exclusion of this scene, there are numerous people who (at least pretend) to care deeply about it. So much so, they told blatant lies that would be clear to anyone who’s even seen the movie trailer. It’s been said the American flag is deliberately never shown — this is false.

Here are three images (below) showing the American flag in a 2 1/2 minute First Man trailer. The movie is 2 hours and 21 minutes long, so they’re on pace to show the flag 169.2 times! (I’m sure it will be much less because, as they say: sample size matters.)

First Man‘s Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle is known for stories of intense personal sacrifice in the struggle to achieve, like La La Land and Whiplash. The title First Man really sums up what this movie is about: an individual struggling against his fears, technology, physical limitations, and most of all, gravity.

Chazelle added:

“In First Man I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments of the Apollo 11 lunar EVA that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is, “No.” My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America’s mission to the moon. Particularly Neil Armstrong’s personal saga and what he may have been thinking and feeling during those famous few hours.”

Armstrong’s sons, Rick and Mark, wrote in a statement:

“This story is human and it is universal. Of course, it celebrates an America achievement. It also celebrates an achievement for all mankind, (emphasis added) as it says on the plaque Neil and Buzz left on the moon. It is a story about an ordinary man who makes profound sacrifices and suffers through intense loss in order to achieve the impossible,”

ConclusionThere are those who think that everyone who disagrees with their perspective on patriotism has some agenda, or is behind some conspiracy to corrupt, what they feel, is the only true expression of patriotism. But, sometimes these decisions are based on artistic expression, or as is more often the case, didn’t notice that there was anything patriotic there in the first place.

MoviePass has had a rough go of it lately. No surprise when your business model is too good to be true. However, their latest move is stirring up controversy among their users — or former users in some cases — who have been auto re-enrolled in a new program.

According to Business Insider, former MoviePass holders recently discovered they had been re-enrolled in the service, which is expected to roll out a new plan Wednesday. Now users can see any three movies (within their new draconian limits of what is “available”) for $9.95 per month.

MoviePass users have until Thursday, October 4th to opt-out of the plan they were re-enrolled in.

Bottom Line: if you’re using MoviePass, be sure to keep an eye on your account and make sure you’re getting what you expect. Some users who tried to cancel their account ended up being auto re-enrolled, and charged for it.

Opinion:I don’t envy anyone working for MoviePass customer support this week. I’m sure those employees are going to have some sort of contest to see who gets the worst abuse from a disgruntled user. I can empathize with them, because I’ve had to deal with my own share of unhappy users after adding Peecoins to RunPee. All of that aside, what MoviePass is doing shouldn’t be legal, and it’s a travesty that the politicians (both Dems and Reps) are too gutless to pass any sort of legislation to keep companies from doing this sort of thing.

For the vast majority of users, I don’t think there’s anything worth getting worked up about. They’ll either say, Yeah, this new deal is worth it, and stick with the auto-enrollment, or they’ll spend a few minutes and go back into the MoviePass app and opt out, again. But a small percentage of users won’t notice. The emails may get filtered out; they won’t notice the charges on their banking account; whatever — and they’ll end up paying for a service they thought they had dropped, month after month. And if they don’t know that they’re enrolled, they won’t be using the benefits. This is where I think MoviePass is doing nothing short of stealing.

Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to what people can be deceived into believing. But in my humble opinion, it is criminal for a media company, or anyone, to knowingly deceive people just to get views. Please watch the Vox.com video (below), but please don’t watch Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. The Discovery Channel needs to learn what it’s like to get bitten by the public for their lies.

How do you feel about shows like this? I’d like to read your comments.

With the release of the Mila Kunis/Kate McKinnon spy comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, there’s now a third movie riffing on the same title.

Here are the three movies in question, what they were about, when they came out, and the really good songs that open them:

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

In a James Bond movie that kickstarted this meme, Roger Moore does his somewhat serious/somewhat campy best to take down a megalomaniac villain (is there any other kind in these films?) who threatens the world with nuclear weapons in an effort to start a brave new world under the sea.

This is Roger Moore’s third outing as the British superspy, and it’s a well-regarded film (the tenth in the Bond series). It was gorgeously filmed on location in Egypt and Italy. Notable for the first appearance of “Jaws” — a relentless seven foot henchman with metal teeth — a set piece where Bond skis off a cliff, and an underwater car, The Spy Who Loved Me is considered a classic Bond film. And so is the intro song Nobody Does It Better, by Carly Simon:

The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Mike Meyers, in his second Austin Powers spy spoof, offered the world a chance to misbehave in The Spy Who Shagged Me. Meyers is notable in this second film of the trilogy for showcasing his weirdness in three roles: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Dr. Evil: the villainous Goldfinger send up, and Fat Bastard: who is….fat. And not very nice.

This is my favorite film of the three; it’s the most fun and has the most cohesive plot, featuring Rob Lowe as the smary Number Two, Seth Green having a ball as the “Diet Coke of Evil” and space scenes that recall Bond’s 1979 Moonraker . Plus time travel. What’s not to love?

Here is the opening song and deliriously funny gag opening. Meyers is totally naked…watch the food product placement:

Just for fun, here’s another wacky song from the same film, with Meyers as Dr. Evil (and featuring Mini-Me):

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

In yet another playful version of the genre, The Spy Who Dumped Me opens nationwide this week. The tagline is Minimum Experience. Maximum Damage.

Of the plot, the IMDB reports: “Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon), two thirty-year-old best friends in Los Angeles, are thrust unexpectedly into an international conspiracy when Audrey’s ex-boyfriend shows up at their apartment with a team of deadly assassins on his trail. Surprising even themselves, the duo jump into action, on the run throughout Europe from assassins and a suspicious-but-charming British agent, as they hatch a plan to save the world.”

The official trailer song, by Michael Buble, sounds VERY Bondian:

The film looks goofy. It could be good goofy or bad goofy — we’ll see soon. Campy and goofy is at least in the grand tradition of these movies. Kunis seems to be playing it straight, while McKinnon seems a bit unhinged. So far it has a 55% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it could go either way. Stay tuned for our review. In the meantime, here’s the trailer:

Tom Cruise (Ethan) and Ving Rhames (Luther) are the only two actors to appear in all the Mission: Impossible movies. However, the previous two movies — Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation — have begun building a consistent team around Ethan and Luther with the addition of Simon Pegg’s Benji, Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust, and to a lesser degree Alec Baldwin’s Alan Hunley (as the IMF Director). There is even a consistent villain presence between Rogue Nation and Fallout, with Sean Harris’ character Solomon Lane.

The missing piece is Jeremy Renner as William Brandt. He isn’t seen or even mentioned in Fallout. The film’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, blamed Renner’s omission on bad timing:

At the time, when the movie started, we didn’t really have a screenplay, so it was very difficult for us to say who would be in the movie for how long and on what days, and he had a commitment to Marvel. So there was just simply no predicting. If we had a finished script, we would have been able to say, ‘Yes, this will work and we can let you go for this time’, but there was just no predicting what those roles were going to turn out to be. It was just an unfortunate case of bad timing.

Personally, I’m not buying it. If it were just bad timing, they could have at very least mentioned Brandt’s name, and given an excuse for him not being available to help — thus making it easier to bring the character back in a future MI movie.

It’s also possible, given Renner’s price-tag for appearing, added on top of the high price of Cruise and addition of Henry Cavil, they just didn’t have the budget for a character that could easily be omitted. If so it’s a pity, but that’s the economics of Hollywood.

We spend a lot of time looking at the readership stats on our polls, ratings, and reviews. Last night I noticed that our ratings for the film Tag has a pretty wide movie spread, as shown in our polling statistics.

What this means: a lot of people had a low opinion of Tag going in, and had a hugely high opinion of it afterward. Tag is polling WELL above expectations.. Only Adrift and Overboard (both boat movies, hmmmm) had a wider spread.

Notice how fans originally anticipated the movie would rate in at the C- range (7.1), but walked out with a B- (8.1). People in my demographic (women around 50) gave it a high B (8.6). My vote was an A- (9.1). I see hundreds of movies each year, and this one pleasantly surprised me. I tend to be harsher on films than most. Tag was simply fun, and a nice respite from more serious world concerns.

Take a look:

———-We broke it down further, using ranges from recent films that RunPee fans voted on:

I really enjoyed viewing Tag last night, a movie about a group of grownup men who spend every year in May reliving their childhood game of tag. Even while living cross-county from each other, these guys keep it up and plan the rest of the year for new ways to create elaborate and sneaky tagging hijinks. Why this movie didn’t come out in May seems like a wasted opportunity (it’s now mid-June). But it’s still a riotously fun time at the movies.

I hadn’t heard the hype for the film, which surprises me since I’m at the theater several times a week and see a ton of trailers. But word most definitely got out, as my opening show was packed and primed for a good time.

Another thing I didn’t realize was that Jeremy Renner, erstwhile Avenger, here as the elusive Jerry (who’s never been tagged in 30 years), played almost the entire film with two broken arms. During the scene where he parkours down a flight of stacked plastic conference chairs, a hinge failed and he ended up broken as well. He reports that he didn’t know he even broke them, and kept on playing the scene.

He reported to Entertainment Weekly that there was only one scene with CGI arms (yep, we live in a world like this now), and you can’t even tell. During the rest of the film, he either wore jackets or long sleeves, and had a lot of shoulders-and-up closeups. It also helps that we don’t see much of him, fitting in with the character’s hard-to-find nature. There are even some shots left in with splints on his arms, which eagle eyed viewers might catch. make sure you keep an eye out, and see if you notice anything at all.

So, “Hawkeye” broke BOTH arms on his second day of shooting? Alrighty then, Renner must really be an Avenger. I don’t think even Tony Stark could argue with that one.

Watch these clips talking about Renner’s experience while you get psyched to catch this frankly delightful film:

Diane Keaton has been busy talking up her new comedy/drama Book Club, a film about four older but formidable women who want to take back their zest and their sex lives, starting with a group reading of the infamous soft-bondage novel 50 Shades of Grey.

The actresses on tap are all top caliber: besides Keaton, the film stars Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen. It’s kinda unfair – all these ladies look great, for any age. But this is still Hollywood, and even older actresses have to maintain their image.

Here are some cute Keaton videos from her recent interview on Jimmy Kimmel, followed by some neat moments from The Ellen Show, where Keaton reveals more funny and intimate things. She’s totally on a roll. I’m excited for this movie! Why can’t we have older women role models to help guide us into aging vibrantly? Hell to aging “gracefully”…let’s rock!

It seems Kimmel’s got a bit of a crush going:

And here’s Keaton on Ellen’s show, doing her thing:

Book Club isn’t getting rave reviews, but I’l guessing the target audience is…older women. And super fans of 50 Shades of Grey. Or why not older couples — to laugh together and take notes for new sexy ideas… 😉

I’m interested to see this take on yet another survival story – I always enjoy those. This time, the setting is somewhere at sea, with the added complication of the only experienced sailor incapacitated, and possibly dying. The word is that this movie is based on a true story – I would guess loosely based, for dramatic reasons, or to compress a long accounting of perhaps endless days drifting lost the ocean. I would guess already that any ‘time passing’ at sea montages will make great Peetimes. We’re never actually sure until we see the movie and make our notes, so you’ll want to load up the RunPee app and keep it ready for when you see Adrift.

An early Adrift Trailer:

The final Adrift Trailer:

We think it looks good from this side of things. Shailene Woodley is turning into a versatile actress. I hope her performance is up to this one…it looks like she will have to carry the entire film, with probably very little dialog. I know someone experienced like Emily Blunt could do it (Blunt can do anything), but Woodley is still comparatively untested.